We will be in Florence for a wedding and then moving to a villa just south of Florence for 3 nights. I was planning to rent a car so we could see Sienna and other towns but now am considering the possibility of having a driver with a car take us on day trips, drive us to our villa from Florence, take us from our villa to Lucca where we will be staying with friends. All of this in early May 2007 (not very far away). Thanks

If you can afford it; a car with driver could be nice. But what are your reasons to do so? Comfort, fear of driving in Tuscany etc?

Because if you are afraid of driving in Tuscany; don't be! Driving is easy and very pleasant in Tuscany. Beautiful scenery, stop where ever you want, pretty good roads, decent signange. And compared to a car with driver; cost-effective!

If you choose to hire a driver and tour guide I can highly recommend Luca Garapa of www.hillsandroads.com. If you do a search for him, or under my screen name, you will find many many recommendations for him. If you need anything specific, let me know.

Here's the man you need: http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/taxi.htm He's licensed to quote prices in advance and I can recommend him from personal experience.

Another vote for Luca Garapa of Hillsandroads.com. We did several day trips with him in the Chianti countryside, and he also took us from Florence to Lucca. We really enjoyed his company, and he was much more reasonable than other drivers I'd checked out.

Weadles - do you think the two of us should start our own fan club for Lucca?? LOL!! Seems one of us is always "seconding-ing" the vote for him on these threads!!!

Flame123,

Yes, maybe we should start a fan club for Luca, although at this point, I don't think he needs it! My family really enjoyed being with him, and we are still occasionally in touch at Christmas, etc. I've heard that he's doing very well, which is exciting because when we went out with him, he'd only been doing the guided tours for a few years.

Anyway, where are you headed next???

weadles - He IS doing very well. We are in touch with him quite a bit, not only at Christmas. We met him last October when we spent the week in Montalcino (it was only fitting since it was because of him that I fell in love with the gorgeous hill town and then decided to spend an entire week there!!). We went out for the day with him and it was just marvelous. He took us to several places that I would not have thought to go on my own.

I am off to Puglia in three weeks and I am very excited about that. Not much info written about this area. What about you??

Flame123,

I'm so glad to hear that Luca's doing well!
We never made it to Montalcino, but did go to many of the hill towns with Luca, and some incredible wine tastings.

Please let me know about Puglia! I have a friend here who raves about that area.

Next up for us is a summer trip to Turkey and Greece. Can't wait!

Weadles - I will post a trip report about Puglia when I return and answer any questions you may have.

If you ever get back to the southern Tuscany area, Montalcino is highly recommended, although ALL the hill towns we visited were just magnificent !!!